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Direct Democracy Direct democracy is a way for average people like you and I to take care of public issues rather than leaving it up to representatives Direct democracy can be applied in three different forms The first is known as the initiative Regular people the voters can take the problems we are facing in society and create laws that may eventually end up on the ballot First off there has to be a petition that is developed and sent to the attorney general for approval Then within 150 days the petition must be signed by no less than 8 of all the votes cast for all the gubernatorial candidates in the previous election All of the signatures must be validated by the secretary of state So generally the petition organizers must collect far more than 8 due to the fact that some of the signatures will be from unregistered illegal or voters from another state This is sometimes an extremely difficult process to accomplish because only 150 days are allowed but if it is done this issue will appear on the next statewide ballot Since a vast majority of these issues are very controversial it is hard to find people that are willing to sponsor them The reason for this is because once the initiative is passed it is much more difficult to get it reversed The next form of direct democracy is the referendum Referendum is the way in which a law that has already been passed can be stopped except for urgency laws which immediately go into effect The referendum petition must be circulated and completely signed within 90 days of the passage of the law The required number of signatures it takes to make the referendum valid is the same as it is for the initiative Once this is completed the law is suspended until the next election If at that time voters change their minds they are able to

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